Spreading the word about a client’s brand is a critical goal in public relations, which is probably why many PR folks I know use the word “brand” so often. But what are they really talking about?
“You have old brands, and you have young brands. You want to be a young brand.”
“Their brand is so dated—it looks like it hasn’t changed since 1980!”
“Sure, the creative is a little bit blunt, but it’s true to the brand.”
“Why would they ask him step down as CEO? He is their brand!”
So is “brand” a good or bad, yes or no, binary thing? Is “brand” the logo a company stamps onto their products? Is “brand” just the copy in its ads? And is “brand” just something that comes from the top down?
The answers? Well, in order, 1) no. And 2) yes… but only partly. 3) No, but it is an expression of it. And 4) sure, your brand needs clear guidance from the top down—but it also needs to ring true from the bottom up, and through every other part of the organization, too. (I always say, if one person defines your brand, that person needs to learn to share.)
As a brand strategy consultancy, our job is to develop the visual and verbal brand an organization will use to tell their story, and to write, design and produce the communications that will bring that brand to life. We dig deep into who our clients are, who they want to be (and who they don’t want to be), which audiences they want and need to speak to and what those audiences want and need to hear.
Conversely, public relations firms help their clients cultivate the right voice across the right media channels, and show them how to start, and effectively engage in, important conversations in their industry. They also listen to what’s being said about their clients “out there” and coach them through the process of responding both appropriately and proactively.
Sounds like a match made in heaven, right? Our goals have plenty of overlap—much to the benefit of our clients.
But unless we start with a shared understanding of how brands are built, grown and promulgated, we won’t be as successful as we—and our clients—want to be.
Here’s what our favorite PR partners believe (and tell their clients) about building a high-impact brand:
Brands can be aspirational—but they can’t be delusional. We create three lists of brand attributes with every organization: the attributes they own right now; the attributes they want to own someday; and the attributes they want to manage away. Reach for the sky, of course…but not before you take a good hard look at the soil beneath your feet. It’s the only way to ensure the brand you’re planting will actually take root in the minds and hearts of your audience.
Your brand is bigger than your logo. Or your tagline. Or your Twitter account. Or your celebrity pitchperson. Or your latest coverage. It encompasses everything from the colors and type you select for your communications, to the values you convey in your messaging, to the technology you put to work to tell your story, to your thoughtful answers when a reporter’s chasing down a lead. Every single choice matters when it comes to building a brand that resonates.
Necessity is the mother of invention, but consistency is the mother of great brands. The best way to ensure your brand makes the right impression is to provide everyone who communicates on your behalf with the knowledge, training, and tools they need to be successful. Well-documented brand guidelines, writing style guides, interactive workshops and on-demand coaching help everyone get on the same page—and regular checkups ensure you stay there.
You can’t control what people say about you, but you can influence it. We live in a pretty noisy world, and some of that noise has the potential to confuse people about who you are, or to distract people from you entirely. You can’t possibly shout loudly to make yourself heard everywhere—and that’s okay. What you can do is build a brand that’s authentic and compelling enough to ensure anyone who connects with you gets a crystal-clear picture of who you are.
Over the years, we’ve done our share of insisting that “brand” actually means something, rather than letting it get thrown around as an undefined—yet frequently used and abused—buzzword. It takes more effort to build something with substance, but it’s always worth it.
And fortunately, our favorite PR folks love to dive in at the deep end, too.
Meg Tripp is director of editorial strategy at Sametz Blackstone Associates. She can be reached at: [email protected].